Possibly a heretical idea but... can we get about 90 days or so of "free" Server Transfers (a la Rifts) from any point to any point once the service goes live? Let us, your customers and players, decide where we want to go and see if that doesn't naturally balance out server loads during the initial rush. Guilds and communities can move whole cloth based on our own dynamics. Then you as a company can make it "cost" (assuming that's the business model you're going for) after that initial 90 days. It's a win-win... you'll have gained testing/proofing, and you'll have gained positive customer service "faction" for it. You may lose money for those who would have paid anyway, but I think you'll get the better environment for future growth and customer subscriptions later. Personally, I think Rifts had the right idea by leaving it free.

Any hope for Drooga's Pleasure Barge? Wait queue at prime time cresting 20+ minutes and rising. (or any other servers experiencing wait queues)

Just adding my .2 credits. Taris Helmet = [Heroic 4] Spilling Chemicals Chest = [Heroic 2+] Blackout Legs = [Heroic 4] Last of the Tarisian Pirates * Note that the Vendor sold legs may be a better graphical match than the ones from this quest. Your mileage and color preferences may vary. Gloves & Boots = Completion of the Planet Story Arc (the one with Thana Vesh) Gloves = Cathar Assassination Boots = No Escape ** I need to confirm that graphically matching Gloves are sold at the Specialty Items vendor on Taris and that the boots are drops Picture of the Mercenary Set (mostly blue), also a Corpsman Set (more grey), and a Powertech Set (Red/gold)

Can we have elaboration on "Neutral" or "Grey" morality items and how that will be implemented? Will it just be the existing system except a third leg, or something more fully developed like the Mass Effect 3 style "Reputation" system?

No secret, lots of folks are playing ME3 right now. The entire Light/Dark I, II, III, IV, V seems to be a good candidate for modification to the ME3 Style Reputation system. Problem: Right now, the game doesn't necessarily feel like "my story" if I am the kind of player that likes having "all the best gear" in slot. I am selecting all Light or all Dark and my play experience is dictated by my desire for X/Y/Z widget. Problem: "Grey Gear" I realize that the TOR team has announced "Grey" items but I think that's a patch, not a fix. In the end, if I'm selecting Light for one dialog, and then Dark for another so that I always stay within 1k points so I can remain grey... I'm still not really playing my character the way i want ... I'm just being random. I think there's a better long term solution, and ME3 shows the way. ME3 Reputation as TOR Morality Make items based on accumulation of points (I will call them Morality for lack of a better term - ME3 calls them Reputation) which unlocks Morality Levels I, II, III, IV, and V. Make items based on Morality Level and not how much light or dark a character has. This then allows me to explore MY play experience. This has the added bonus of making replay-ability of alts (Legacy system) much more enjoyable rather than just playing another character on moral rails (light/dark/gray). So implementation would be * Change this: Light side points minus dark side points equals current "morality" (i.e. 10k positive is Light V, 10k negative is Dark V) * To this: Light + Dark side points equal Morality (X value = Morality V ... say 10k to start) Uncapped Many of my characters cap 10k light/dark long before 50...now making a moral choice is just "not decaying" rather than actually affecting me in any way. Remove the arbitrary 10k cap - let it go to 99,999 and no screen/UI modification required.

Outraged no. Disappointed yes... just means a bit of wasted time on some alts I'll be deleting once I get new race options.

Would it be possible to one day experience content with groups composed of ONLY our companions (for example, 4 person Flashpoints or six-person (player cahracter + 5 companions) Operations) for a reduced/minimal loot table. Seems that this would encourage gearing up all of our companions which acts as a natural resources sink.

EU win

Naboo - Idyllic and yet seems to have all the amenities of a modern, "first-world" planet of the Republic/Empire... even the Trade Federation invasion didn't seem all THAT bad.

Yep. Just keep progressing in the storyline, you'll be fine.

I guess these community Q&A updates aren't as well read as BW hoped.... http://www.swtor.com/blog/community-qa-feb-17th-2012 6th one

Good ideas here. Sometimes folks just want to "see" the content - once or twice at most - and are less interested in the gear. Why not also cater to them and give us "Me + Companions Solo Mode?" ... if it's about the story, then let me see the story. Then, when they get the "gear bug," they can do the content again the "regular way" and explore another aspect of the game. Cannot say it enough /love this idea

Not to get too involved with the discussion but Speaking as somebody that both loves raiding with friends and family as well as solo content. The idea that (in addition to what exists now) I can run content with a 4-man group composed of just my character + 3 companions is AMAZING. Even if it has a "lesser" loot table. ... if I can run Ops with a 6 man group (my character + 5 companions) ... I can't even begin to describe the awesome. /love

Shameless plug: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=320587

Shameless plug: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=320587

Star Wars Galaxies launched with no space game engine, in summer of 2003. Fall of 2004 we got "Jump to Lightspeed" so that was roughly a year of development. What would you like to see in the Space Expansion at launch? I'm going to try and keep this post updated with commonly requested items in the replies. These seem to be the things hinted: A) The Obvious or easy to assume 1) Simulator-ish controls. Joystick or mouse based free-flight (or both) with throttle, 3-axis movement, and all the basics you would expect from a "flight simulator" style engine. 2) Multiple Ship models and Upgrades. Obviously we'll be able to fly with "our" ships and these ships have upgrades. 3) A Ship Action Bar. We have 4 slots now, this is an easy area for expansion. 4) Guild Capital Ships. Hinted at many times. We've been told it's a huge undertaking. "Destroyer" was mentioned (but likely just a figure of speech). B) Some Assumptions Based on Current Space "Rail Shooter" Engine 1) Attackable Space Targets (Stations, Satellites, and Capital Ships). We have them now, we'd assume that we would continue to have missions against space stations and capital ships and whatnot. 2) Environmental Hazards. Floating asteroids, cargo containers, ice, etc. 3) Multiplayer support. We've been hinted that multiplayer support even in the rail shooter engine is being looked at, we would assume multiplayer support would exist in any space expansion as well. This includes both cooperative and head-to-head (aka PVP). Note: Wishlist items found in RuinGaming's excellent thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=299503 have been incorporated/summarized here for completeness (post date 2/22) with some of my own commentary. C) Personal Touch Requests 1) Color changing. The ability to change the base color of various sections of our ships both internal and external. (bulkheads become red-tinted, floor takes on a blue hue, etc.). To use existing systems... there would be pre-canned color schemes we could purchase and a "Customization" slot we could socket on the ship "sheet" where we stick upgrades. Preferably there would be an Interior slot and an Exterior slot. 2) Naming the Ship. Even if we're the only one to see it, the ability to name our own ship. In space combat if we had the ability to show our ship name under our own name, even cooler. (think how Legacy titles appear now) 3) Ability to Buy New Ships. The ability to have additional ships. It seems unlikely with the current engine that you'd be able to change your default ship due to cutscenes/maps/etc. but the ability to buy additional ships that we can use in the space expansion I think is the core request. 4) Ability to "Decorate" Ship Interiors. A few "hotspots" where items can be purchased or acquired to decorate the interior of the ship. Think captain's cabin, and a wall where you can put all your collected lightsabers and/or guns. etc. etc. etc. 5) Minigames - Whatever minigames are implemented in the core game in general, also have the option of putting those in our own ships (pazaak, sabacc, dejarik/chess, etc.) as well D) Guild Capital Ship Requests 1) Ability to dock and launch from it. - Seems pretty obvious but it needs to be listed anyway. 2) Ability to Man Gun Stations. - If the guild participates in PVP or PVE missions involving the guild capital ship... guild members can choose or either fly "air cover" in their own ships... or man the point defense guns. E) Space Maps and Mission Requests 1) Class Based Missions. - Smuggling missions for smugglers, etc. - personally I think it's not a good idea to create too much content that excludes the customer base. However I think certain classes should get additional perks and benefits for missions clearly in their "sphere." 2) Free Flight Maps - Seems pretty core to the whole idea. Big huge maps bounded with "Exhaustion Zones" like what exists now that have features inside them (asteroid fields, space station, ice debris, etc. etc. etc.). Obviously these would be the basis for any missions that incorporate them. 3) Free Combat Zones - Missions where you zone into a Free Flight Map (see #2 above) and dogfight whoever is there. Call these Space Battlegrounds if you like (queue up 4 v 4, 8 v 8, scaling up to whatever). F) Space Flashpoints and Operations Requests 1) Combined Game Engine Content. - Multiphase Flashpoints/Operations that involve both the space engine AND the existing individual combat engine. I would argue to not waste the rail shooter engine either. - Arbitrary example to illustrate. - Phase 1 Space Engine - Combat Air Patrol/Cover in free-flight space engine to protect bombers seeking to disable X/Y/Z object and "dogfight" (engage the TIE fighters) - Phase 1 Rail Shooter Engine - Rail Shooter "Strike Craft" on pre-set bombing runs to accomplish X/Y/Z goal (fly down the main trench, and fire photon torpedoes into the thermal exhaust port) - Phase 2 Individual Combat Engine - All ships "dock" once the Phase 1 goals are met, and it loads the regular game engine so that the boarding party must fight through the space station/capital ship to obtain the mission objective Changelog 2/22/12 12:48 CST - Created this post

I see, thank you. Good to know.

I've played Empire since the game launched, only just started a Republic side character... how do you Solo Esseles

To the OP: If it really concerns you... I'd do this.

It sounds like you're just wanting some "boost" for while you play, so if you want to do Artifice I'd recommend: -Artifice -Archaeology -Slicing or Underworld Trading Realize you'll be using Green con Hilts and Gems because you'll most likely be buying your Enhancements with planetary Commendations anyway. ----- Slicing I'd consider a "baseline" - you'll tread water over the long haul, and make cash in lumps whenever your slicing returns missions which will get you a burst of cash on the GTN. ----- Underworld Trading you'll see some utility leveling up on Companion Gifts (if you care about that) and then Underworld Metals on the GTN for fun and profit. ---- You won't be rich, but you should have little to no difficulty with money with either option (well you may have some difficulty dropping 210k for the level 2 speeders until you get into your 40s, but other than that you'll be fine). Another option would be to just take Treasure Hunting to jive with your Artifice, and when you get level 41 and can send out 4 companions or so, switch to Slicing or Underworld Trading at that point. It won't take you long to level up by then.

Preamble: - I just chose "Trade Federation" because Episode 1 was just re-released - This is intended to spark discussion, any multipliers and values indicated below are arbitrary starting points Core idea: I was wondering how difficult it would be to implement some server side code and an NPC droid near the GTN that sold materials at cut rate prices when it seemed that "price gouging" was going on. The server side code would monitor the GTN for prices and help out the player economy by "releasing stockpiles" at steep discounts to help drive prices back down. Basically a "central bank" of materials to help regulate prices and protect crafters and whatnot... hence the "Trade Federation" name. Government agencies manipulating supply and demand to fiddle with prices is old hat in the real world... why not in TOR as well? So for example (remember all numbers are an arbitrary starting point). - Widget X default sells on the GTN at 100 credits. - Two weeks later Widget X is elevated by "Farmers" to 5000 credits. - Server side code detects that Widget X now crossed some threshold set by the devs (say x10 of the default listing price) and now the Trade Federation Droid vendors suddenly have an unlimited number of units of Widget X for sale for 1000 credits (default x10) and those Widgets will continue to be listed until prices fall back to default x10 at which time the server removes the widgets from the vendor. THE OBVIOUS CON OF THIS is basically the devs are dictating the maximum prices of items, which in typical gamer fashion, this now becomes the regular price of any given thing because players will want to maximize their profits without activating the Trade Federation vendors. Options/Alternates The finer points could be debated, for example.. Alt #1) Perhaps when prices reach the threshold the Trade Federation starts listing auctions on the GTN (with no automatic buyout) starting at the default auction sell price. These auctions will remain, relisted as soon as the item sells, until the prices fall back below the threshold. Alt #2) Widget X becomes a random box on the Trade Federation Vendor. It may cost an amount of credits equal to the Threshold, but it will yield a random number of Widget X items thus ensuring some randomness is still inherent in the system. Alt #3) The "threshold" is determined by polling prices for X days running across all servers rather than an arbitrary multiplier set by the devs. This would still be abusable by "farmers" ... BUT ... they'd have to manipulate prices on every server for a long time to pull it off. Also nothing says this couldn't be combined with an arbitrary fiat threshold and the code just uses whichever is lower. Alt #4) The "threshold" varies by level, so maybe Level 1 materials only have a x5 multiplier above default but Level 5 materials have a x25 threshold... thus helping lower levels skill up (and keeping prices low for new follks to the game) but competitive lucrative at the higher "end game" Thoughts? I posted this in Crew Skills because crafters would be the number 1 group affected by such an idea.

Well said. +1

Seriously, best thread on the forum. I wast "meh" towards my Marauder before I read this thread. After respec and getting new gear thanks to this thread, I am in lurve again with the class. My Mara is now my highest level character (not 50 yet, but it's really fun). Thank you so very much.

I was going to type my own reply but I see it's not needed. DITTO what miliways said!

Are BioWare engineers working with HeroEngine (or whoever else is more directly responsbiel for the underlying graphics rendering engine) to address issues found with the DiskCacheArena (DiskCacheStatic/DiskCacheStream) and its behavior? Even if no fix is yet available, knowing it is being looked at would be a huge plus. Threads for reference: * Ramdrive howto - http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=154568 * Poor FPS from some users - http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=249030 Thanks